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Smartphones have changed the game. We need to re-learn how to…
Get Your Company Emails Read by Your Customers

Raise your hand if you own a Smartphone or a tablet device like an iPad. Keep your hand up if you read your emails on your Smartphone or tablet.

The fact is, more and more of us do. And with 9 out 10 new phones now sold being a Smartphone, if you’re one of those that don’t at the moment, the chances are within the next 12 months your contract will expired, and the next phone you get will be a Smartphone.

The popularity of Smartphones and tablets mean that we rarely read our emails on our desktop or laptop computers any more. There is no need. Our emails are right there at our fingertips on our Smartphone.

So why should this be of interest to your business? Well perhaps we all need to rethink how we communicate with our customers.

To illustrate how important this is, let us try and picture an average Smartphone user:

Rachel is in her mid-thirties and she has owned a Smartphone for 8 months. She uses it every day for things like changing her Facebook status and to Tweet about the movie she saw the evening before. She will check the weather, text her friends, watch a funny YouTube clip, read her emails and take a photograph all while she drops off the kids to school, picks up a Skinny Latte, walks to the office and buys her lunch.

There is so much information on Rachel’s Smartphone fighting for her attention. In fact, there is so much competition that nothing wins her undivided attention for long. So if you want your message to grab her attention, you need to use smart tactics.

The rules have dramatically changed and you need to know them in order to win and get her business. Here are some winning tactics to help you to do that:

Winning Tactic Number One:

Come up with a strong or catchy pre-header
When Rachel receives your email on her Smartphone, her eyes will quickly scan her in-box and she is going to see three things right away. The first is who the email is from (you), the second is the subject line and the third thing she is going to see is your pre-header. The pre-header is the first few lines of your email. It is the pre-header that will determine whether or not Rachel is going to open your email or not. In fact, if it does not grab her attention or interest her she might even decide to delete it without even opening it.

Your goal is to get Rachel to open your email based on what she reads on your pre-header. To achieve this, you need to come up with something catchy and interesting. It doesn’t have to be cute or too clever for its own good, but it should be inviting. It should make Rachel want to open up the email to see what else you have to say.

Winning Tactic Number Two:

Make sure it looks good on Rachel’s Smartphone
Your emails are not going to look the same on everybody’s Smartphone. In fact when Rachel opens up the email she might find that the image in your email has not loaded properly or you have used a double columned newsletter format that is difficult to navigate on her phone because it has been shrunk to fit on to her screen. Perhaps you put 3 links in your email and they have stacked one on top of the other making the middle one impossible to open. How frustrating.

You don’t want Rachel to encounter any of these problems, so the best way to avoid them is to check what your email will look like on a variety of mobile devices beforehand. Your web site designer or offline consultant will know how to do this and will provide demo versions for different mobile devices. This will ensure that your emails are understandable, readable and clickable no matter what screen Rachel uses.

Winning Tactic Number Three:

Make it short, sweet and easy to share

Rachel never stops. She is always on the go. This means she won’t have time to read your email if it is the same length as War and Peace. You need to keep your emails short and sweet. The best way to do this is have a tightly focussed call to action in the email that makes it easy for Rachel to respond to. For example you might want her to visit a page on your web site that has a time limited special offer, so make sure that it is easy for Rachel to click on the link to visit that page.

Her friends and family might be interested in your offer too, so make it easy for her to share your product through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Remember, Rachel, like so many of your other customers are part of a highly connected network of potential customers who are all within a click of her phone. She is addicted to her Facebook and Twitter account and posts regularly.

By reaching Rachel with your mobile marketing campaign, you can reach all of her friends and family too…but only if you know how to play the game and employ the tactics revealed here.